Page 26 of Trusting Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings 2)

She’d always wondered if part of the reason that Audrey had wanted to open up the coffee shop here was because of the tattooed heartbreaker. But her sisters had lived in the small town for over five years, and as far as Grace knew, Josh and Audrey were still just friends, no matter how much Viv tried to push the two of them together.

When Josh noticed her parked there, he lifted his hand. “Hey Grace!”

“Hi, Josh!” She smiled and waved and out of the corner of her eye she noticed Easton’s expression change as he looked between her and Josh, like he wondered just how well the two of them knew each other.

Good, she thought as she pulled onto the highway. Let him wonder.

She couldn’t help but be a little hurt that Easton hadn’t taken her up on her offer of a ride. He seemed more than happy to send her on her way. She wasn’t used to feeling this way, and she didn’t like it. She never cared what guys thought about her, or if they thought about her at all. And she certainly never got her feelings hurt because they didn’t want her to give them a ride.

Last night was an anomaly. What she needed to do now was focus on her future. She didn’t have a job. She was selling her home. She had no idea what her next step was.

She did her best to make a plan but her mind kept wandering back to her sexy stranger. Flashes of the night before kept playing in her head, it was like a montage of highlights. There were so many moments that she knew were going to be etched into her memory forever.

She’d known him less than twenty-four hours but it felt like she’d known him her whole life.

How was that possible?

When she passed the Welcome to Hope Falls sign, she realized it had taken her less than fifteen minutes to get there. Last night, Hope Falls had felt like it was a million miles away. Seeing that it was so close felt strange.

She’d felt like she and Easton weren’t just in their own bubble, they were in their own world.

Grace was still reeling from it all as she pulled into the back of JT’s Roadhouse, which was the only bar in town. Unfortunately, Grace wasn’t there for a drink, not that it was open at eight in the morning, even if she wanted one. She was going to be staying in the Meadow View B&B which sat in the back of the property behind the bar.

The reason she’d chosen the B&B instead of the more popular Mountain Ridge resort, which is where they’d stayed when she’d come on vacation with her mom and sisters when they were younger, was because her mom had always said that she thought the cottage behind the roadhouse would make an adorable bed and breakfast and she wished she could buy it and renovate it. That obviously never happened but the current owner of JT’s Roadhouse Levi Dorsey must have had the same idea as her mom because that’s exactly what he’d done.

As she came to a stop in front of the B&B her dashboard lit up. Her sister Viv was calling. She pressed the answer button on her steering wheel. “Hey—”

“What the fuck?! You’re in Hope Falls and you didn’t tell me you were coming?” Viv shouted.

“Good morning to you too.”

“Grace!” Her sister didn’t appreciate her greeting.

Grace sighed, “I wanted to surprise you.”

“Well, mission accomplished! I’m definitely surprised! How long are you staying?”

“Indefinitely.” Grace felt strange even as the word came out of her mouth.

She was staying in Hope Falls indefinitely.

“What about work? What about partner? Oh shit! Did they make someone else partner?”

Grace had been thinking the offer was going to come for several months now and she’d discussed the possibility with her sisters.

“I’ll tell you all about it after I get settled. Are you and Aud at the coffee shop?”

It would be the easiest if she could tell all her sisters at once, so she didn’t have to repeat herself, but she’d settle for two. She knew that Ava was in sessions all day. She’d just opened up a practice in Hope Falls and it was going very well.

“I’m actually not in town. I’ll be back tonight.”

“Where are you?”

“San Francisco.”

If she was in San Francisco then…

“How did you find out I was here?”

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